Sentence stress examples:

If we want to contrast or show disagreement with what someone else has said, we use shifting stress. We do this by changing the usual patterns of sentence stress. So in this next example, John knows the conversation is about films and Tom Cruise so he doesn't have to stress those items. Instead he stresses the new or contrasting information:

Listen
Helen: Have you seen that new film with Tom Cruise?
John: No, but I saw the last one he was in. It was terrible!